From Curiosity to Impact: How Can We Spark Students’ Interest in Research?

How does an interest in research develop, and how can we encourage students to engage in research activities? These were the questions addressed by Dario Castellano, PhD graduate of the University of Salerno and IT Research and Development Engineer at eTuitus (InfoCert – Tinexta Group), in his talk “How to spark students’ interest in Research? How can we encourage students to pursue research?”, held remotely on 20 October at the University of Tours as part of the NEOLAiA Seminar of the Expert Support Teams. The talk, part of the activities of the Scientific Communication Group, offered a practical example of how research can stem from questions arising in everyday professional life. Starting from real-world challenges related to the development of technological solutions, Dario Castellano shared the journey that led him to combine his professional activity in industry with an Executive PhD at the University of Salerno. This experience was made possible through collaboration between academia and industry: on the one hand, the company provided concrete problems, use cases and data; on the other, the university contributed scientific methods, supervision and rigour. This approach allowed his skills as an engineer and as a researcher to coexist and enrich one another. In this way, research findings can be translated into solutions and services that are actually used, while also creating new opportunities for collaboration and participation in international projects. The discussion between the speaker and the seminar participants also highlighted the importance of creating favourable conditions for this type of pathway, taking into account companies’ needs, opportunities for scientific publication and legal aspects related to the management of data and research outcomes. More broadly, the seminar was an invitation to rethink how research is communicated to students: presenting the questions before the results; showing that research starts from real-world problems and can also take place within a company. If curiosity is the driving force behind research, it is the right collaborations that turn it into tangible impact.